334 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



I could always call hiin to me again. At breakfast he was all about my 

 breakfast things, catching flies. He had a heavy fall, missing his footing 

 on one occasion as he flew from a chest of drawers to my table. This 

 I think caused his death, as immediately afterwards I left the room, and 

 when I returned, in about ten minutes, I found him huddled up in a corner, 

 and one leg almost useless. He shortly afterwards died — the end of most 

 pets — an untimely death." The above, as I have said, is from my notes, 

 and may appear to enter rather too much into minutiae, but I wish to show 

 that a bird within si.x days of being in a wild state, without any special 

 endeavours to tame it, arrived at an almost perfect state of confidence in 

 man. I do not regard it as showing any particular affection for myself 

 individually, for it was just as confiding to any friend who came to see me. 

 I do not know wliether all wagtails have this tendency to domesticity, as 

 my e.Kperience is limited to M. Jiava and M. alba. It was a pretty sight to 

 note his several attitudes when crouching watching a fly in his neighbour- 

 hood. He never would even look at a fly on the wall which was out of his 

 reach. I think this was because he knew that his clipped wings prevented 

 him being successful, and it was no use troubling aliout it. In a wild state 

 these birds will allow anyone to approach very near to them. They thus 

 fall very easy victims to the birdcatcher. — E. F. Becher (Malta). 



FISHES. 



Cyclopterus lumpus at Penzance. — For the first time within my 

 experience, which now covers thirty-four years of actual observation, I have 

 obtained a male specimen of the Lumpsucker, or Lump-fish, Cyclopterus 

 lumpus. I have had many specimens of the female or " Blue " Lumpsucker, 

 but this is the first male or " Red" Lumpsucker which I have ever seen. 

 It was captured at the Scilly Islands on April 27th, and kindly sent to me 

 by the Lord Proprietor, Mr. J. A. Dorrien Smith. I need not describe it, 

 because it quite agrees with. the descriptions given by Yarrell and Couch, 

 except that the brilliant scarlet colour which suggested the name of the Red 

 Lump-fish is in this specimen confined to the region below the lateral line. 

 Above that line it is blue, as in the female. — Thomas Counish (Penzance). 



Large Surmullet in Mount's Bay. — On May 0th 1 received from 

 William Allen, a fisherman, of Prussia Cove, in Mount's Bay, the largest 

 Surmullet, Mullus surmidetus, yet recorded. It measured seventeen inches 

 in length over all, and from eye to fork one foot and half an inch, and 

 turned the scale at forty-two ounces. I recorded a Surmullet of thirty-six 

 ounces and a half in 'The Zoologist' for October, 1875, and another of 

 sixteen inches and seven-eighths in length, weighing thirty-eight ounces 

 and a half, in November of the same year. I then mentioned that this 

 latter specimen was the largest for size recorded, but not the heaviest. 

 Couch having weighed one at forty ounces. It will be seen that my present 

 specimen tops my largest in size and Couch's in weight. — T. Coknish. 



